


Prosperpina

by Jaromo99



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish is Bad at Feelings, Adam is a dad, Baby, Bisexual Adam Parrish, F/M, M/M, Ronan Lynch & Blue Sargent Friendship, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch is Bad at Feelings, like there's a baby and everything, writer uses too many commas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:20:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27933766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaromo99/pseuds/Jaromo99
Summary: Between his brief relationship with Blue and his realization that he liked Ronan, Adam had a very short relationship with another girl. Now she's pregnant, due to have a baby soon, and wants nothing to do with raising a child. Adam needs to chose between raising a child alone and the bright future he's worked so hard for. With some help, maybe he'll be able to do both.
Relationships: Henry Cheng/Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 16
Kudos: 64





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been hyped up on Pynch and I'm baby hungry, so here's this I guess.  
> Also, I'm still figuring out formatting and cannot for the life of me figure it out on my phone. I'll try to fix it on my laptop at some point, but for now, I'm sorry.

It went like this.

Adam spent the night at The Barns. The shitbox was back at St. Agnes, so Ronan drove him out to Boyd’s at an ungodly hour the next morning. A few hours later, at a slightly less ungodly hour, the woman that worked at the desk came into the garage to let Adam know he had a call. Instead of asking her to take a message so he could call back later, John, the other guy on the floor, offered to swap breaks with him so that Adam could take it. 

“Hello!” A bright voice on the other end of the phone said, “is this Adam Parrish?”

Adam didn’t recognize the voice. Maybe a college? But no, they’d have Gansey’s number to reach them at, he wouldn’t be getting a call at work. “Yeah, how can I help you?”

“Oh, great! I didn’t have a lot of information to go off of. I called to see if I could leave a message for you, but lo and behold, you happened to be in!” She sounded unnecessarily perky for someone who still hasn’t announced the reason for the call. “Anyway, this is Mary, I’m Sabrina’s friend and she’s been trying to get in contact with you for a few weeks. Keeps missing you, though!”

Adam’s stomach dropped. He’d never met Mary, which was surprising, given that Sabrina didn’t seem to be one to make friends with out-of-towners, he did, however, know Sabrina. “Why has she been trying to call?” He tried not to sound rude. It probably came out rude. No, definitely came out rude if the facial expression of the woman sitting at the opposite side of the desk was anything to go on.

Mary didn’t seem to mind, “She’s been here at our home for a few months now trying to figure everything out, but she’s been talking it out with a few professionals and ultimately she’s decided that she’s not keeping the baby anymore. She thought it would be best to get in contact with you in case you wanted to be involved before-”

Adam cut her off, “I’m sorry, can you repeat that? I don’t know if I understand.” He understood, he just didn’t want to.

“Yes, yes, of course! Sabrina is in our facility right now, and she’s decided that she doesn’t want to keep the baby. She wanted to ask you if you wanted to be involved in the process since the baby is yours, too, and our facility focuses on-”

Adam cut her off again. “I… I heard you, I’m sorry, I’m just kind of lost, I guess.” He paused to breathe, “I didn’t know that Sabrina was pregnant.” Desk lady looked up from her computer at Adam, obviously filling in the holes of the one-sided conversation she was hearing, and not very happy with the new context. “Listen, I’m at work right now, can I call you back this afternoon?”

She didn’t seem too unhappy with his behavior, “Of course! We’re at Springs Maternity Home, the phone number is five seven one- “

Adam stopped her yet again. “Hold on, I need to get something to write on.” He looked hopefully to the woman again, who was already holding out a pen and a pad of sticky notes. “Sorry, five seven one…”

After jotting down the number and promising to call back, he made another call. He meant to call Ronan, but without meaning to his hands decided to dial Gansey’s number without permission from his brain. He picked up on the second ring. “Gans, can I come over to Monmouth after work?”

Gansey didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, of course Adam! You get off at 2? I’ll pick you up. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Uh. Yeah, I’m off at 2. You can… If it’s not a hassle, you can pick me up.” That was unlike Adam to say the least, and Gansey definitely picked up on it.

“Adam, is something wrong? Did you and Ronan-”

“No, Gansey, everything is fine with Ronan-” for now anyway “-I’ll talk to you after I figure everything out. Thank you.” 

Adam hung the phone up again, returned the sticky note, sans the one he jotted the number down on, and the pen back to the desk lady. Adam still couldn’t remember her name and couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment. So instead, he said “Thank you,” to her and walked out the front door.

It was like this.

Adam was upset when Blue cut off their not-quite-relationship. Not because she didn’t want to date him, of course she didn’t, of course she would have come to her senses eventually. Rather, he was upset because of Gansey. Even when _he_ got something good, even when _he_ was the first choice, he never stayed the first choice for long. It was only a matter of time before everyone he knows and loves realized how unworthy he was and left him. It made sense that Blue cut it off and walked right to Gansey. It just meant that she had seen what everyone else was bound to one day.

When Adam threw his bike against the wall at the back of St. Agnes. He was still upset. Jealous of Gansey. Upset with Blue. Angry with himself. When he went into the church and up the stairs to his apartment, Sabrina slipped in too. Sabrina wasn’t Blue. Sabrina didn’t know Gansey, didn’t have to compare him to Gansey. Didn’t see him as a tumor that was unavoidable, waiting for the day Gansey finally realized and cut him off. 

They talked for a few days, then gave up and decided that maybe _not_ talking was the best way to go. Whatever it was, it was over quickly. He saw her a few times after that, at the gas station on the corner, the grocery store, walking on the sidewalk while he passed in the passenger seat of the Camaro or BMW, then less frequently, then not at all. She smiled at him at first, then less frequently, then not at all. 

He didn’t know if he had missed her or if he just missed someone who wanted _him_ instead of Gansey.

However twisted the situation was, it made sense. Why she stopped coming around, why she disappeared, why she wasn’t going to Mountain View anymore. Henrietta wasn’t that big, word travelled quickly when girls mysteriously dropped off the face of the earth. Rumors travelled fast too, but Adam always assumed that they were only rumors, never putting more thought into it. Last he heard, she was dead and haunting the girls bathroom. 

Gansey, true to his word, showed up and was in the parking lot waiting for Adam when he got off work. The first thing Adam said when he opened the door was “Can I use your phone to make a call when we get to Monmouth?”

Gansey took the hint and kept his answer to one word. “Yes.” Then, because it was Gansey, “Is there any point in asking what this is about?”

“No.” Adam didn’t say anything else, because unlike Gans, he didn’t necessarily want answers.

He didn’t even go up when they got there. Gansey handed him his phone and went upstairs. Adam stayed on the ground floor, sat the dirt covered ground behind the staircase, and called the number on the neon pink post-it that he kept in his pocket. 

He wrote the basic information on the back of the post-it with a pen he grabbed from the Pig. He was on the phone for about half an hour, since there was a lot to discuss. The baby was healthy. She didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, didn’t _want_ to know. She said she’d have one of the women at the center ask her doctor and call him about it if he wanted. Most of all, she reiterated constantly that she didn’t want the baby. She’d carry the pregnancy, but she wasn’t willing to keep the baby after that. She’d hand the baby over to Adam if he wanted and subsequently fuck out of their lives entirely or find a family to adopt them through the groups the home operated through. 

It left Adam with a lot more information than he was able to reasonable fit on the sticky note and even more questions. 

Ultimately, he decided to talk to Ronan before deciding anything. If nothing else, he would yell at him and they would fight and at least then Adam can deal with some of the emotions that flooded over him. Deciding to talk to him and actually finding time to talk to him were two completely different things. Adam was sure that this would end up in yet another break up, this time it’d be cutting off the tentative relationship that he had with Ronan. His apartment seemed like a bad idea, given that it was also Ronan’s church. The Barns was a bad idea, Adam didn’t want to walk or bike back home from there. No where public. No where that Gansey would hear the argument. 

After a few minutes of brainstorming, it seemed to be that the best answer had, in fact, just walked into the building. “Blue!” Adam said as Blue started up the staircase. 

She stopped, then turned back to him. “What’s up?” 

“I...have a favor to ask you.”

They had spent the time since Gansey’s second death and revival mending any hole in their friendship left behind by their time dating, which made her pretty easy to talk to. However, it also gave her a newfound ability to read him pretty well. She rolled her eyes. “I’m not gonna bite you, Adam. What do you need?”

“Is there any way you can get Gansey away from Monmouth for a few hours later?”

She paused, face black, then laughed. Through the laughter she said, “yeah, yeah, of course. But you know you have two other places to go if you want to make sweet, manly love to Ronan, right? You don’t need to chase Gans out of his own home.”

“That’s not… that’s not why. But thank you.” 

They started up the stairs together, Adam a few steps ahead of Blue. At the top, Adam paused, deciding whether or not he needed to knock. Blue, however, just opened the door and walked in.

Gansey didn’t seem to mind. “Jane! Delightful, I was just about to call! Oh, Adam, welcome back, did you finish your call?”

Adam looked at Blue, who looked at Adam, who stopped looking at Blue so that he could look back to Gansey. “Yeah, thanks for letting me borrow it. Thanks for picking me up, too, I never thanked you.”

“Anytime, Adam, of course! You don’t need to thank me! I’m happy to help!”

Adam started to say something argumentative, something to insist that he did, indeed, need to thank him, but Blue saw where the conversation would lead and jumped in instead. “Gansey, I didn’t eat lunch. Did you?”

Gansey looked back to Blue, “No, I didn’t think to. Are you hungry, I’m sure there’s something-”

“I’m not eating food out of your bathroom, don’t even suggest it.”

Gansey looked chastised. “I wasn’t going to,” he said in a voice that meant he very much was going to suggest that very thing, “I was planning on asking if you wanted to go out for a late lunch. It’s already three, but I’m sure we can make something work.”

“Okay. Adam, do you want to come?”

“No, uh, is it okay if I just wait here for Ronan? We’ll come find you guys later.” 

Gansey smiled, one obviously meant for both of them at once. “Of course Adam, you’re welcome here anytime. I’ll text Ronan and let him know you’re waiting.”

As Gansey gathered a jacket, his wallet, and his keys, Blue snorted, “yeah, because he’ll definitely see your text before midnight.”

Gansey started to argue, “he is perfectly adept at reading his texts. It’s the responding part that he seems to struggle with. Adam, if you want to join us we’ll be at Nino’s.”


	2. Two

Telling Ronan would have been easier if they had already had at least one of these conversations. They hadn’t talked about any of it, though, which added layers of difficulty. There wasn’t really a natural way to get into the conversation without a fight, so Adam figured he may as well not even bother trying to avoid one. When Ronan showed up a few minutes after Blue and Gansey left, the first thing Adam said was “so, what was the deal with Kavinsky?”

Ronan stopped for a fraction of a second, then took off his jacket and tossed it toward the couch, missing by several feet. He didn’t bother picking it up and walked right over it when he went to sit down by Adam. “You know the deal with Kavinsky.”

“I don’t though. Like, I know he was a self destructive asshole, but so are you. A different kind, sure, but… I mean, did you guys ever…?”

Ronan met his eyes, then threw his head back against the back of the couch. “No? Not when… I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so? I feel like it’d be pretty obvious if y’all were-”

“I spent most of my time with him either drunk or high.” Ronan was staring at the ceiling now. 

"Oh.” Adam didn’t say he was sorry for bringing it up, sorry that it happened, because Ronan would have hated it. “Was there anyone else?”

“No.” He stopped there, eyes still fixed on the ceiling. Then, after a minute, “What do you want me to say? ‘No, babe, you’re my first and I’ll love you forever and ever for it!’” He said the last part in a surprisingly good impression of a particularly high pitched tone of the girls from Mountain View they made fun of sometimes. 

“Ronan, look at me.” He didn’t for several seconds before finally caving in. “That’s not why I was asking.”

Despite his attitude toward school, Ronan was extremely smart. He knew how to read people, after all, it was the best way to find the cracks to pick at to piss people off. He also tended to jump to the worst case scenario. “If you want to go faster, we can, we don’t need to break up over it, okay, we can do whatever you want.”

Adam cut in as soon as Ronan took a breath, “Ronan, no, that’s not what this is. I just wanted to make sure that you knew everything, just out of full disclosure, y’know?”

Ronan, again, came straight to a conclusion that was definitely not the case. “You know, Blue doesn’t really seem like the type to put out that fast. Explains why Dick went for her so quickly.”

“Ronan! I should tell Blue you said that. Let her kill you herself. Gansey might even let her.” Ronan rolled his eyes then looked away from the ceiling to meet Adam’s eyes. “I wasn’t talking about Blue.” Ronan didn’t say anything. “Her name was-”

“I don’t care who you fucked, Adam.”

“I just… I need to tell you something.” When Ronan didn’t say anything, Adam continued, “It was this last summer. After Blue cut things off. Before my birthday.”

“You were working a lot. Doesn’t seem like there was a lot of time to date.”

“There wasn’t. We didn’t really… date? I mean, it wasn’t like that.” Adam took a deep breath before going on. “Her name is Sabrina. She, uh, she used to go to church with you and your brothers. I think Declan dated her older sister a while back.”

“The first Ashley,” Ronan agreed. “She disappeared a while back. Apparently you’re so bad in bed she needed to get the fuck outta town.”

And there it was. The opening. “She actually left because she got pregnant and went to a support home.”

Ronan said nothing. For a very long time. Long enough that it was obvious that he knew exactly what Adam was insinuating. Finally, after what seemed like forever, “You didn’t tell us.” The way he said it made Adam think he really meant _you didn’t tell me._

“I didn’t know until today. She called Boyd’s earlier and I called her when I got here. I’ve only known for a few hours.” Adam’s breathing was shakier now as he waited for the inevitable. “She didn’t know until she was too far along to do anything about it. She...she doesn’t want to keep the baby.”

Ronan was quiet again. A long time, but less time than before, “you’re taking it.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know if it’s even possible. I can’t live in my apartment with a baby, it’s too cold. Where would we live? I could take a gap year, but what happens after that? People go to school with kids all the time, but not _Harvard_ right? Not guys.”

“Stop. You’d figure that out. The witches did it, you could too. That doesn’t matter. Do you _want_ to?” Ronan was surprisingly level headed about this. Every instinct in Adam was expecting this to go wrong, for there to be yelling, for Ronan to shut him down, kick him out, s _omething_. 

Adam said “yes,” then was shocked. He didn’t know he wanted to. He went into this hoping that Ronan would freak out and say that someone else would take the baby if Adam didn’t and that Adam would realize that he agreed. Instead, Ronan just drew information out of Adam that Adam didn’t even know. “I didn’t know that I wanted to, but yes.”

“Then you’ll figure it out. Gansey will help you. I’ll help you. Hell, Blue’s moms will probably kidnap it all the time, have you seen that house? How long do you have?”

“About a month, I think. She said she’s due in five weeks, but it’s normal to go over or under by like two weeks.”

“She took her time telling you.” He paused, “shit, what did Gansey say?”

“I haven’t told him. I told you first. I wasn’t going to tell him at all if- if I wasn’t going to do anything. There’s not a lot of time, I’ll need to tell them all soon.”

“Better late than never. He’s out sucking face with Blue right now, we can go now and tell them that you knocked up a teenager.”

  
  


They didn’t, as it turned out, go interrupt Blue and Gansey. Adam spent a few hours scrolling through research, local sales pages to gauge the price of second hand baby supplies, and waited for a call back from Sabrina’s OBGYN on Ronan’s phone. As much as he hated the idea, acquiring a phone seemed to be inevitable at this point, since he needed to be reached at a moment’s notice. When Gansey got back to Monmouth at 8pm, Adam was still there, surrounded by lists upon lists of handwritten information that had been torn out of his notebook so he could look at them all at the same time. 

Ronan was.... Adam didn’t know. He went in his room, then left to drive around, then never came back. 

As soon as Gansey walked through the door Adam told him they needed to talk. He scooped up some of the papers around him and closed the laptop while Gansey came and sat on the ground in front of Adam. “I’m hoping to still go to Aglionby. I’ll have to talk to the counselors to figure something else. I’ll need to take a gap year before starting Harvard. I’ll email admissions on Monday to make sure it’ll work. I’ll have to find somewhere else to live, because I obviously won’t be able to stay in my apartment”

Gansey cut in, “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Adam bit his lip, trying to work up to telling Gansey. “You met Sabrina once, right? The cashier at Crown?”

“The one who kissed you?” Gansey asked. Adam hadn’t known that Gansey knew that. “I saw through the windows when we were getting out of the car. Blue did, too. Sorry. We assumed you were keeping it a secret. Blue convinced me to not mention it.”

“Uh, yeah. We were together for a little while.” Adam wanted to make sure Ronan knew at least the minimum details. Gansey does _not_ need to know any details. “She moved away a few months ago. She called me at work earlier and I called back after, that’s why I asked to use your phone.”

Gansey looked shocked for half a second before settling back into what Blue has taken to calling his “Mr. Politics” face. “I thought you and Ronan were together. I’m sorry for being presumptuous, I just assumed after our conversation-”

Adam stopped him, “we are, we are. Or, I mean, I think we are. That’s not the point though, Sabrina is pregnant.” May as well get it over with.

“Oh. She’s trying to get help? That’s good, what’s the problem? I’m sure I can help as well if she needs something. I know that’s not what you want, but if it’s for a friend, it’ll be okay, right?”

“Gansey, it’s mine.”

Gansey’s brain kind of shut down. Adam could see cracks in his Mr. Politics demeanor. “Are you sure? You said she’s been away for a while, surely it could be someone she met wherever she lives now.”

“She cleared her OB to talk to me. The due date lines up. It’s mine.”

“If it took her that long to tell you, why is she bothering now?”

“She wanted to make sure that I didn’t want custody before she started trying to work with an adoption agency.”

“I can call my dad’s lawyer, get paperwork done to sign away parental rights, this doesn’t have to affect you.”

Gansey gets on these trains of thought where the second he considers something final he won’t deviate from it unless being explicitly told that it is incorrect. Adam knew this. “I don’t need a lawyer. I don’t need to sign away rights. I’m taking full custody. Well, actually, I might need a lawyer, but probably not right away.”

Gansey knows that Adam needs to make his own choice, of course he does, Adam has proven it to him time and time again, but it doesn’t stop him from thinking that the choices are wrong. Usually he would never vocalize those thoughts, but this was different. “I don’t believe that’s a wise decision, Adam.”

“It’s a good thing it’s not yours to make, then, isn’t it. Feel free to tell Blue and Henry for me.” Adam stood up and started putting his papers away, then into Ronan’s room to return his laptop and phone on his bed, before putting his sweatshirt on to leave. 

He was out of the building and almost to the road when Ronan yelled at him from across the lot. “Get in loser!”

“Seriously Lynch, a Mean Girls reference? Now?” Adam turned to walk over to Ronan. 

“I need to call Matthew tonight, do you still have my phone?”

“No, I left it on your bed. I didn’t know if you wanted to see me again.” Adam admitted.

Ronan drew a slow breath. “Someone ought to let the school know that their valedictorian is an idiot. Stay here.” He left to go retrieve his phone from where Adam left it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The number of chapters is tentative and will most likely change. I'm starting classes again next semester, but I have a few weeks I've dedicated to writing my book, and I'll be using this as a warm up every day when i start writing. It'll be at least a few more chapters, but I'll carry on past that until I either get bored or there's a good stopping point.


	3. Three

Ronan took longer to return than it should have taken.

Adam thought he had changed his mind and decided not to come back down, not to drive Adam home, not to talk to him anymore. When he opened the car door to leave he heard the yelling. Loud enough it was audible, but not quite distinguishable. He heard Ronan’s voice yell, then a break, then Ronan again. The door flew open and Ronan came out first with Gansey following a little behind. He got in the driver’s seat, slammed the door, and flipped Gansey off as they drove away.

“I don’t want anyone to fight over this. You don’t need to fight over any of this. Not with Gansey.”

“That flew out the window when he started trying to convince me to make you change your mind,” Ronan replied.

That explained the argument. “Do you agree with him?”

“What I think doesn’t matter,” Ronan said snarkily, “but for all it’s worth, I think you’d be great with a kid.”

Adam didn’t want to get on that topic. He was very much avoiding thinking about that aspect. “I’m emailing the admission office for Harvard on Monday. I need to take a year before starting. I’ll be able to use the money I have saved up to buy the stuff I need and find somewhere else to live.”

Ronan looked like it was physically painful to not offer to pay for everything, “My parents never threw anything away. There’s tons of baby stuff at the Barns.”

Adam considered it. It was free help, which would normally be grounds to immediately reject, but Ronan doesn’t lie and it’s not like he’s using it anyway. “Okay. I guess that solves one of the problems.”

Ronan didn’t cover the pleased expression on his face very well. “And I know we talked about you moving into the Barns when your lease was up in a few weeks anyway. Would it really be so bad to keep that plan?” That surprised Adam.

“I didn’t think you’d want me to anymore.”

“When you email them on Monday,” Ronan said, “ let them know that you’re a fucking idiot.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? Such eloquent vocabulary,” Ronan said sarcastically, “better let them know that, too.”

Adam didn’t warrant that with a response. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with Ronan. “Gansey asked me if we were still together,” he blurted out. He wasn’t planning on it, but a lot had happened that day and his mouth was working faster than his brain.

“He asked me the same thing,” Ronan replied, his voice made it seem like his mouth and mind were on the same page, unlike Adam. “I told him we were.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.” Adam paused, giving Ronan a chance to respond, but he didn’t say anything. “I thought maybe you changed your mind because of the…”

“Did you change your mind?”

“No.”

“Then neither did I,” Ronan responded immediately. “Where am I taking you?”

“I need to stop by my place. I have a factory shift at 5 tomorrow, so it’d probably be better if I just stay in town tonight.” Ronan’s expression dropped a bit at that, so Adam rushed to add, “You can stay if you want, I’m not trying to get away from you.”

They were quiet for about five minutes. The occasional street light shone through the darkness outside. It usually took Adam exactly twelve minutes to get from Monmouth to St. Agnes, but Ronan was driving. Ronan parked in the parking spot reserved for someone who is not Ronan. “Parrish,” Adam looked at Ronan, “I love you.”

Adam felt a smile spread across his face, genuine and uninhibited. “I love you, too.” Ronan turned away to open his car door. “That doesn’t mean you have to be okay with this. You don’t have to help, you don’t have to stick around. Tell me to fuck off and you’ll never have to talk to me again. We could be friends, you can find someone with less problems.”

Ronan pulled his door shut again, then turned to face Adam. “I refuse to do anything I don’t want. If I wanted someone easier, I could find them. I want you, I’ve wanted you for two years. I’m not giving up on that just because you have someone else to love.”

“Okay,” Adam’s hand went to his door handle now, “do you still want to come up?”

“Remember what I said about stupid questions?”


	4. Four

Ronan was avoiding Gansey. He loved him like a brother (like Matthew, not Declan) but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be annoying as hell. As much as he tried not to let Gansey get to him, he couldn’t always stop the pointed questions from sticking. The last two weeks had been proof of that. Gansey had always had loud opinions, but he used to keep them to himself. It had been a while since he took it upon himself to talk _about_ Adam and it had never been in a way that would directly affect Ronan himself. So he was ignoring him. The last time they spoke was the Saturday when Ronan yelled at him. Since then he’d called a dozen times that Ronan had rejected, sent countless texts which Ronan ignored, and even came by the Barns once when Ronan pretended not be home.

Adam had seen Gansey in person, unlike Ronan, and made sure to repeatedly tell Ronan that he’d apologized and really wanted to speak with him again. Ronan knew that he should drop it if Adam didn’t think it was a big deal anymore, but he couldn’t. He had no idea why he’d allowed Adam to convince him to go out with the group. Actually, scratch that, he knew why. So he would go, but he didn’t have to be nice. 

Gansey and Henry weren’t there yet when they arrived and Blue still had ten minutes of her shift, so it was just them for a few minutes. Adam was talking about his schedule when they left the car and headed inside. Blue shoved menus at them and pointed them to a booth, not even bothering to say hello. “She said that since I’m not missing as much school this year, she could help me work with the teachers to figure something out. As long as Sabrina doesn’t go too far past her due date, we should be back home by the start of Aglionby’s spring break, so I’ll have that time to figure out a routine. I’ll have more time to get everything ready on Wednesday since I’ll only have Boyd’s and school -” Ronan followed Adam’s eyes to the hostess desk where Gansey and Henry were. “Please play nice, I need to talk to Blue about something and I can’t have her getting all pissy.”

“I always play nice.”

“That is the biggest fucking lie I’ve ever heard you say,” Adam laughed. “Hey, guys.”

Henry slid into the booth on the other side of Ronan and Adam, “hi, daddy.”

Gansey stayed standing. “Ronan, I just want to let you know how sorry I am that-”

“Don’t, Dick.” Ronan wasn’t in any mood to hear that shit. 

Gansey sat down on the very edge of the bench. Henry leaned forward on the table toward Adam, “So is there a reason you wanted to meet up? Or are you just trying to force Lynch to socialize?”

“It’s just been a while since we were all together. I wanted to catch up.”

Blue practically ran across the room, weaving through the maze of tables and chairs, taking off her apron as she went. She came to a stop by Gansey, who stood up to let her sit between him and Henry. “Oh, Adam! Mom and Calla say yes.”

Adam’s eyebrows pulled together. “About what?”

Blue started taking hair clips out of her hair, throwing them into a sloppy pile on the table. “How should I know, they said you had a question to ask them.”

Ronan watched as Adam looked confused for another second, then his expression shifted like he understood the message Blue delivered. Blue tossed a hair clip on the table, it slid across and landed right in front of Ronan. “That’s so unsanitary. Aren’t you a waitress? You should know how gross that is.”

Blue flipped him off with both hands. Gansey sighed, “Jane.”

Blue mimicked the sigh back, “Gans.” She scooped the hair clips into a neat pile right in front of her on the table. “Do you know what question they answered?”

Adam smiled. “Yeah.”

“You wanna share with the class?” Ronan said sarcastically.

Adam kept smiling. “Later, okay?”

The waitress came up. “Hey y’all! Nice to see that you’re back to occupying one of my tables and disrupting other customers. Y’all want your awful avocado pizza?”

Gansey started to say yes, but Blue spoke first. “Yes. Cheese too, because I’m not disgusting. I want Sprite. These three probably want Coke, yeah?” Two of the three in question nodded, “and I want to make Gansey try that peppermint lemonade.”

“Sounds about right. Be back soon.”

“She’s in charge of you now?” Ronan asked Gansey.

“No, of course not. He had every opportunity to say no,” Blue said hurriedly, “If he doesn’t like it we’ll trade. It just sounds like something he’ll like.”

Gansey smiled at Ronan and Blue, “of course, I’m glad that she thought of me like that!” Then to Adam, “You mentioned tomorrow being your last day of work at the factory?”

Adam glanced up at Ronan before looking back to Gansey, “Yeah. Then I move out of St. Agnes on Thursday.”

“Shacking up already?” Henry butted in, shoulder moving suggestively, “Seems a bit early, don’t you think?”

“Fuck off, Cheng.”

“My offer for Noah’s old room still stands,” Gansey said to Adam.

“It’s fine, Gansey, you don’t want to deal with crying at three AM anyway, especially with the echoes in Monmouth.”

Henry did his shoulder wiggle again, “let’s be real, Ronan is just turned on by Adam taking care of his kid. They need their space.”

Ronan started to stand up, but Adam’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Daughter.”

Blue jumped up and hugged Adam aggressively across the table. “A girl!” Henry smiled, but didn’t propel himself across the table the same way Blue did. When she sat back down her carefully piled hair clips were all over the table again. 

Adam’s hand never left Ronan’s arm, but now it was resting gently. The last Ronan had heard, Adam wasn’t going to tell them that the baby was a girl until he had the witches’ blessing to use the name he wanted. That meant he either changed his mind or had talked to... _oh_ that’s what Blue’s message from her mom was. 

As Blue was settling back into her seat, Gansey kept his eyes on Adam. “So you have a name?”

“Prosperpina. We can call her Prosper. It’s a weird name, I know, but it seems… fitting.”

Ganesy didn’t look away. “For Persephone.” 

Blue’s smile grew impossibly wider. “I love it.”

Henry didn’t understand it, but he didn’t look like he would ask anytime soon.

Adam looked down, then pulled the phone Ronan had dreamed him from his pocket and answered it. “Hey, Sabrina?” He waited. “I...are you sure? Cause I know that a lot of women… Okay, okay, yeah. I’ll be there in three hours.” He hung up the phone. “I need to go. Move.” He pushed at Ronan to get him to stand up to let him stand. 

Everyone knew what was going on, so no one had to ask. Henry always seemed to know what was running through everyone’s heads, “If Lynch is going with, we can set up before you get back.”

That kind of hurt, Ronan wouldn’t lie to himself. They had already talked about it, though, and had decided that Ronan wouldn’t be going with Adam. “No, I’ll stay and set up.”

“Gansey, bring me home, I need to grab my bag. Adam, are you taking your car?”

Adam looked _not great,_ so Ronan made a decision for him, “Fuck the plan, I’ll bring you guys and come back to set up. I’ll pick Blue up after we get Adam and the baby's stuff.” The plan was for Blue to go with Adam, so she was still going with Adam. 

Around half an hour into the drive, Ronan convinced Adam to take a nap. A combination of common sense “ _it’ll be better for Sabrina and Prosper if you don’t pass out from exhaustion”_ and bribery (read; blackmail) “ _If you sleep I won’t play the Murder Squash song all the way there and back_.” It seemed like the second he closed his eyes he was out, leaving Blue and Ronan practically alone for the first time that Ronan could remember. “Gimme your phone, I forgot to ask Henry to drop by my house for those clothes.” 

“I’ll stop by when I get back. I’ll have a day to get everything set up, right?”

“Oh. Are you not saying? I thought you’d stay with us or go out to see your brothers or something?”

He wanted to, but Adam didn’t think Sabrina would be on board with it, and keeping Sabrina happy with the goings-ons was of utmost importance, according to Adam. “Nah. I need to get the nursery set up anyway. Your boyfriends wouldn’t be able to do it alone without your big feminist muscles.

“Hardy har har,” Blue said to hide her actual laughter. “You know I’m not actually dating Henry, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, you just had him on the back burner for after Gansey died.”

It felt like the air was pulled out of the car, “that’s not even close-”

“I know, I know, God.” Ronan _did_ know, of course he knew, what he didn't know was why he said that. “I didn’t mean it. I just think it’s funny how quickly you three all fell in love with each other, even if you don’t realize it yet.”

“You spent two years pining after a guy you thought was straight, I don’t think you get an opinion on our relationship.”

“I spent two years in love with a guy I thought was straight, I think I’m exactly the person that gets to comment on the puppy dog eyes you’re all making at each other.”

“I mean, valid.” Blue looked at the rearview mirror, trying to catch a glimpse at Ronan’s expression. “So you love him?”

Ronan’s face heated up. He didn’t realize he had said that part out loud until Blue pointed it out, but he wasn’t gonna back down. “No shit. We may not have your true love curse or whatever, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other.”

“Oh, so Ronan Lynch, bad boy supreme, believes in true love now?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You literally murdered him with your mouth. I didn’t see, thank god, but I can only assume that he fangirled so hard when you kissed him that he died.” Surprisingly, Blue laughed. Ronan thought that joking about that when they hadn’t even talked about it seriously was a bad idea, but if she laughed that it had to be okay. Blue didn’t bullshit around hard topics. “I don’t know if I actually believe in true love. Like, maybe you guys were promised it because of a curse or whatever, but for normal people? Nah.”

“Neither of you are exactly normal. I thought you said you loved him.”

“I’m not saying I don’t love him. I’m saying we weren’t made for each other. We aren’t two halves to a whole or anything, we aren’t soulmates destined to be together. Love sucks and it’s hard and true love isn’t real. So I say fuck that, let’s make it ourselves.”

“Awww. Lynch has feelings. That was poetic, man.” She leaned forward, “gimme your phone and say that again, I need proof for the next time Calla calls you a heartless snake.”

“Fuck off, Sargent.”

She laughed loudly. Adam moved the tiniest bit, so Blue shut up. Then, quietly, “I’m kind of scared, to be honest.”

“What? Of babies? Aren’t there a million in your coven?”

“It’s not a coven, your boyfriend is more of a witch than any of us,” Blue snapped back, a little louder than before. “I mean for Adam. He can do it, I know he can, but my mom says that so much of her success raising me came from support. And Adam _has_ support. He has Gansey and Henry and me, and of course he has you. Hell, he could probably talk to a stranger for five minutes and they’d be willing to sell his soul to them, but it doesn’t mean anything if he isn’t willing to accept it.” She looked at his hair, the last flashes of sunlight shining dimly through his hair. “I’m afraid that he’ll run himself to death trying to keep going instead of letting us help him.”

Ronan didn’t say anything back. He agreed with every word Blue said. It’s all that has been on his mind since the day Adam told him about Sabrina. 

  
**  
  


Adam woke up to Ronan shaking his shoulder. Blue was standing outside the door with three bags, ready to go inside. “C’mon man, we’re here.” Ronan unbuckled Adam’s seatbelt and Adam was out of the car before he completely processed everything that was going on. “I’m heading back home to set up, I’ll pick up the car seat on the way back. Call me with updates.” Ronan leaned in for a quick kiss before shooing him off with Blue.

Ronan dropped them off right at the curb, so it was a quick walk into the doors to the maternity wing. Blue walked to the front desk, “Hi! We’re here for Sabrina Holloway.”

“Okay, give me one second… yes, can I get your names?”

“I’m Blue Sargent, this is Adam Parrish.”

“Okay. What’s your relation to Miss Holloway?”

“I went to high school with her. And I’m Adam’s friend. Adam’s the dad.”

“I’ll have to have someone ask about letting you up, but you can wait in the waiting room on the third floor. Mr. Parrish, I’ll call up and let them know you’re coming. She’s in room 329. The elevators are right across the hall, go ahead and head on up.” She gestured over to the elevator doors, then picked up the phone, and obvious dismissal. 

As they were waiting for the elevator, Adam spoke up for the first time. “I need to call Boyd. And school.”

Blue brushed his arm, “Hey, worry about that later. Go check up on Sabrina first.” The elevator dinged and the doors opened. They got in after a man and a few women got out. Adam started to reach for the button to press, but stopped right before hitting one. It was floor...three? Right? Floor three? That’s what the lady said? He didn’t have long to think about it, though, since Blue had pressed the button for the third floor as soon as Adam hesitated. 

On the phone Sabrina said she’d been in early labor for five hours before she called, plus the three hour car drive, so eight hours. Six to twelve hours in early labor with a 7.7 hour average meant that she was probably in active labor or getting close, right? The articles he was reading had said that most of the time, women wouldn’t even have to be in the hospital yet and that she was only there because of her age. There should still be a few hours, right?

The elevator doors opened and a young woman was there to meet them. “Hello! Mr. Parrish?”

“Yes,” Adam said. Wait, no, he didn’t say it out loud. “Yes,” he tried again. 

“Great! Ma’am, if you’d take a seat over there.” He motioned toward the chairs to their right. “I’m Doctor Franz, I’m one of the residents on duty. I’ve been working with Miss Holloway’s team. Given that the pregnancy was high risk, we’re making sure to be extra attentive today.” She turned the opposite direction of where Blue had settled into a chair. “Her room is this way if you’d like to follow me.”

“Thank you.” His voice sounded weird, why did his voice sound weird?

“No worries! First time on this floor, I presume?”

“I… yeah. First time in this hospital, too.”

“We’re fairly standard as far as hospitals go,” Dr. Franz smiled at him warmly, “I’ll get you up to date. Miss Holloway is progressing quickly, so it’s a great thing that she came in early. On average it takes an hour per centimeter to dilate, but she progressed from 4 to 7 centimeters in less than an hour, which is much quicker than normal, but nothing to worry about, everything is going smoothly. Her epidural went well and we’re on track for a standard vaginal delivery.” She stopped them in front of a door 329, then called in, “Miss, you have a guest! Is he okay to come in?”

A voice called back, “What, so now you’re gonna ask before you barge in? What changed?” Oh, Sabrina. There was the reason he liked her. “Adam, nice of you to show up!” She said as soon as he came in. “I was starting to think you changed your mind.”

“I wouldn’t have done that.”

“Whatever, come here and hold my hand. My friends all left me.” She didn’t look great, given that she was _literally giving birth_ but she was a fighter in every sense of the word, and it showed. So Adam held her hand. 


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW  
> This chapter touches on Sabrina's emotional health a lot. I mean, the girl is giving birth to a baby she wants nothing to do with with no friends or family around and I tried not to shy away from it. If that's something you would be uncomfortable with, I added an end note that will cover everything you need to know from this chapter so that you can skip it.

Blue really, really, felt for Sabrina. She barely knew Blue, but was so  _ alone  _ that she let her come into her hospital room. Blue had a group of boys who would kill and die for her, even if Ronan would deny it, and when she didn’t have them, she had an entire house of women who made it their goal to make sure she was never alone. Blue could say with 100% certainty that she could mess up in every way possible and would never be left behind in the way that Sabrina was now. 

As far as Blue could remember, Sabrina had friends at Mountain View. She went to community events, church groups, extracurriculars. She had to have had friends. Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe she didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone. Or maybe she did tell them and they decided she wasn’t worth the work anymore. 

Either way, Blue was going to make damn sure that she had someone now, even if it was only Blue, who was nothing more than a classmate for most of their lives. “C’mon, c’mon, you’re good, you can do it.”

“Fuck off. Where’s Adam?”

“He went to call his school. Do you need him?”

“No, no, no. I don’t want to be alone, please don’t leave me alone.” She took a sharp breathe and squeezed Blue’s hand, “oh my god, why the  _ fuck  _ do I have to do this? You know Adam, yeah, like, he’s hot and all but definitely not worth this.”

“Cheers to that. You’re doing it anyway.”

The grip on Blue’s hand loosened. “You know I’m glad you’re here? You and Adam. I’m happy that he’s taking the baby, he’ll be great, right?”

“He will be. He has so many people to help him and he’s so great.”

“Distract me.” Sabrina’s head dug further into the thin pillow. “Are you guys together?”

Blue laughed lightheartedly, “No, we went out for a little while like a year ago. I’m dating his friend.”

“Oh! Ronan, yeah? My sister dated his brother for a while. Said he was a huge asshole. Ashley’s a total bitch too, said Adam only went out with me because I was so similar to his friends.”

“Not Ronan, Gansey. Though Ronan is a lot better than most people assume. He’s a little rough around the edges, but he’s so loving. Never tell him I said that, I can’t have him thinking I sing his praises wherever I go. Did you hear about the science lab incident right before Christmas?” Sabrina shook her head. “You remember Kai Biron? Big hair? He and some of his friends snuck into the lab after school. They had to call an ambulance after, cause they all got drunk and naked and were mixing whatever chemicals they could find. Rumor has it something exploded and Kai’s pubic hair got burned off. Everyone was fine and came back into school the next day, but they all got suspended for a week.”

“Sounds about right.” She took another one of  _ those  _ breathes, which Blue now knew was followed by hand squeezing. “Hey, press my call button?” Blue pressed the button. “I don’t want to know anything, okay? The doctors know and I think Adam knows, but I don’t want to know anything. I can’t know, I can’t know, I can’t-’

“Okay, we won’t tell you anything. If you want to know, then ask, but we won’t tell you anything unless you ask. You want me to make sure Adam knows?” The grip loosened again. Sabrina nodded. “I’ll tell him now, okay?” She nodded again.

Blue stood up, pulling her hand away from Sabrina’s, who clenched her hand into a fist. Adam was still in the hall, definitely not on the phone anymore. He was just standing there, staring past the wall into something far away. “I think she’s close. I’m not a doctor or anything, but one should be on their way.” Adam blinked slowly. “She wants me to remind you that she doesn’t want to be involved at all. She doesn’t want to know the name, she doesn’t want to see the baby.”

“How could she…” he didn’t finish the sentence.

“She has no one. No support, no family to help her. She made a choice I couldn’t even imagine making. What she chooses to know and not know is up to her and none of us have any right to argue with her on that. If you don’t agree, you don’t need to be in the room.”

The doctor from before came into view, “oh, hey, I know I didn’t go to school for thirty years and all that, but I’ve been around enough women in labor to know that she needs someone in there very soon.”

“Of course, miss, I’ll check up on her right now.” She went right into the room and Blue and Adam followed. Dr. Franz didn’t even say hello again, just went straight to checking Sabrina. Blue has decided that she is never ever having a baby like this. “Well, well, I’ll call in some help. You’re ready to have a baby!”

“What?” Sabrina had her head down on the pillow and pulled it forward in a move vaguely reminiscent of a sit up, “oh,” she reached out for Blue, who offered her both hands, before the next contraction hit. About thirty seconds in she stopped swearing, too preoccupied with breathing. 

From behind Blue, Adam asked, “how long have these been lasting?”

Sabrina closed her eyes, “shut up, shut up, shut the  _ fuck _ up.” Blue sent him a glare that she hoped would get her point across.

“Come here, hold one of her hands.” Adam did as he was told and came to the opposite side of the bed, offering his hand for Sabrina. Once Blue had a free hand again, she brought it up to Sabrina’s cheek. “Don’t hold tension in your face, it’ll just hurt more later.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Sabrina snapped back. She took a deep breath and relaxed her face. 

There were footsteps on the linoleum out of Blue’s sight. Then a doctor Blue hadn’t seen yet approached, putting a new pair of gloves on. “Hello again Sabrina! I’m sorry I couldn’t make it earlier. Let’s take a look shall we?”

Sabrina took another deep breath, “I need to push.”

The doctor put a hand on Sabrina’s knee. “Okay, you’re at 10, so if you’re ready then we’re ready.” There was shuffling behind Blue as several people moved around.

It took five minutes, a lot of swearing, and complete loss of feeling in her hand, but eventually someone was saying “one more time, one more time” and there was a baby. Everyone else in the room was focused on her, but Blue kept her attention on Sabrina. 

“Do you want to hold her?” Sabrina just shook her head no, no, no, no as she sobbed. When Blue finally turned, the difference between Sabrina and Adam was blaringly obvious. They both had tears running down their faces, but for two completely different reasons. Adam’s face matched that of a child who just got handed a $5 bill in a dollar store. Sabrina’s said that this was the worst day of her life.

Blue just hugged her, ran her fingers through her hair, and repeated “you did great, you did great, you did great,” like a mantra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happened in this chapter for those who chose not to read it:  
> The chapter was from Blue's POV and focused on Sabrina's autonomy, including her right to not be involved more than needed. She had the baby! Adam held the baby (though it wasn't a huge thing)! Blue also reflects on how many people love her.


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note before you read:   
> I suck at writing dialogue and I am very sorry for this.

Ronan’s phone went off while he was carrying a box down the stairs at the witches’ house. As he sped up to get down the stairs and put the box down, one of the women upstairs called out, “You’ll want to answer that, Snake. 5 pounds, 5 ounces! Bit low, but bigger than Blue was!”

He dug his phone out of his pocket on the third ring, answering it without even checking the caller ID. Immediately Declan’s voice on the other end demanded, “what did you do?”

Ronan silently cursed Calla, then did it again out loud for good measure. “They said it was Adam.”

“I- What?” Declan asked. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know.”

“Then why did you call.” It was technically a question, but the inflection wasn’t there.

“I was hoping you would tell me, but I find out from  _ Henry Cheng  _ of all people.”

“Goddammit Cheng,” Ronan looked over to where Henry was standing, but he managed to escape the room just in time. “It wasn’t a secret, it just isn’t your business.”

“It’s not my  _ business _ ? Not Matthew’s  _ business _ ? How long did you think you’d keep it a secret anyway?” When Ronan remained quiet Declan took it as an invitation to continue. “Whose the girl?”

“That part is definitely not your business.”

“It is if you need me to arrange the paperwork with dad’s lawyer.”

“He’s already working with one of the Ganseys'.”

“Who is?”

Declan can’t possibly be this stupid, right? “Parrish.”

“Why is  _ Parrish  _ working with a lawyer for this?” Apparently he could be this stupid, Ronan was too kind to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

“Do I look like I wanna deal with anyone unless I have to? He’s the one with the kid anyway.”

“He’s the-” Declan stopped for so long Ronan assumed he had hung up. Ronan kept the phone to his ear, squishing his shoulder up to keep it in place so he could pick the boxes back up. “That is vital information that was conveniently left out of our conversation. Henry left me under the impression that it was yours.”

“That’s disgusting," Ronan said, because the idea was indeed disgusting.

“Can you take one fucking thing in your life seriously? Why are you so immature?”

“I don’t know man. I’m sure you have some theories.”

“Why the hell are you setting a nursery up at home if Adam is the one with the kid?”

“Because he can’t leave the kid at his apartment when he moves in, so she needs somewhere to do her baby activities and shit.” Ronan considered hanging up, but his phone was still trapped between his ear and his shoulder.

“Why is Parrish moving in?”

He held the box in place with his knee so he could open the front door. “Well y’know I figured it’d be easier to fuck if we live together.” 

Henry’s surprised face probably matched Declan’s if his sharp intake of breath was any indication. “I’m trying to be serious here.”

Ronan set the box down on the stack by the BMW. “So was I.” He hung up the phone and pocketed it. Henry looked like a kicked puppy, waiting for Ronan to take his anger out. Instead, Ronan just opened the door and started moving the boxes into the backseat. His phone started vibrating in his pocket. As much as he wanted to ignore it, it could have been Adam, so he wouldn’t risk not answering. 

Calla was behind him again. “You’ll want to answer that.”

“You said that last time,” Ronan responded as he fished it out of his pocket again.

“You wanted to answer last time too.”

He made a crude gesture at her as he checked the caller ID to see that this time it was actually Adam. “Parrish?”

“She’s amazing! They needed to take her to some stuff, but she’s perfect. 5 pounds, 5 ounces. 17 inches. A little small, but they said it’s normal. They need to keep her here for a little while longer than they originally said, but we should be able to go Thursday morning!”

“Sounds great. Let me know if that changes. I think I’ll drive out to see Matthew once this is all set up. I have it mostly done, but I just picked up the stuff from the witches and I’m heading home now. I’ll make Henry help me. I might forgive him. I might just kill him.”

“Don’t kill him yet, Gansey will be sad. Blue will threaten you. It isn’t worth it.”

“Whatever. Gansey should have texted you about the hotel room.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“I don’t care. But if you let Blue sleep in a chair she’ll be really angry later and you’ll be the one stuck with her.”

Adam sighed. “Blue won’t leave anyway. She won’t sleep in a chair, either, she’s been sitting with Sabrina. I guess there was some problem with the placenta and it tore something and she might have to go into surgery. I don’t know. She doesn’t want me in there anymore, but I guess her and Blue are friends.”

“Didn’t know Sargent had friends.” Adam didn’t respond. “You didn’t do anything. Being in there won’t help.” He still didn’t respond. Something was wrong, something Ronan couldn’t guess. 

“They’re letting me in to see Prosper again.” Adam said before hanging up. 

Calla was still behind him. “How much does she weigh?”

“You were off by an ounce.” Ronan put his phone away yet again and shut the car door, done with putting the boxes in.

“Damn, up or down?”

“5 ounces, not 4.”

“I owe Maura $10.” Calla left without any additional comments. 

Henry was already in the passenger seat, so Ronan got in without saying anything else and started the drive out to the Barns. 


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BABY! At The Barns!

Prosperpina was cleared to go home at 10:00 AM Thursday morning. Between Adam’s inexperience with car seats, Ronan’s sarcastic comments, Blue rolling her eyes and sighing loudly every ten seconds, and a doctor that was obviously reluctant to release a newborn into the care of a bunch of teenagers, it took much longer than Adam thought it should have to figure out how to properly buckle a baby into a car seat. Eventually they had it figured out, so after proving to the nurse who was assisting that he did indeed know what he was doing after ten tries, discharge documents were signed, and the four of them were on their way back to Henrietta. 

Adam sat in the backseat with Prosper, which allowed Blue the chance to take the passenger seat, a rare feat when Ronan was driving. Another rare feat was the reasonable speed and basic precautions Ronan took to drive them home, which effectively added almost two hours to the drive. The added time meant that a break was needed just after noon so that Adam could feed Prosper and change her diaper, then a second break a mere half an hour from 300 Fox Way. Both times Adam asked Ronan to go do something. The first time he asked for coffee from the diner that was attached to the gas station they stopped at. The second time he just told him to occupy himself for twenty minutes. Blue wasn’t kicked out of the car either time, which Ronan was admittedly a little bitter about, but he thought he was doing pretty well hiding it. 

The entire drive they talked. Adam kept saying that it was important for Prosper to be around noises and voices so that she got used to them, something he had obviously read on one of the blogs he had spent the last few weeks obsessing over. The conversation ranged from Animal Farm, which Blue was currently reading for he english class, to the postponed roadtrip Blue and her boyfriends were taking that summer, to Blue lecturing them about why it was rude to call Henry their boyfriend for no reason, then Ronan listing all the reasons he thought were valid with ‘because it annoys you’ at the top of the list. Eventually they settled in on family traditions for bringing home new babies. 

The standard at Fox Way was a culmination of several families and cultures so mismatched that it was a new thing in and of itself. Ronan said that they’d already fucked up Lynch tradition by buying baby things before she was born, so it didn’t matter anyway. Adam didn’t have any, after all bringing home another mouth to feed in his family was rarely seen as a blessing. 

“It doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s not like you need to do any of it,” Blue had said about ten times. 

Ronan had set his shoulders back in  _ that way  _ that meant he was about to start a fight, so Adam interrupted instead, “We’re not doing most of it, but that doesn’t mean we’re not doing any of it. I was talking to some people about a lot of traditional ceremonies and-”

“Pfft, nerd.”

“And I really like the idea of a naming ceremony and blessing.” Adam continued, Ignoring Ronan’s interruption

“Oh!” Blue jumped back into the conversation, “you should talk to Calla about that, she used to do them for a bunch of people before she met my mom and Persephone!” 

“She was actually the one who suggested it.”

“Been talking to the witches behind my back, Parrish?” Ronan asked.

“Yep,” Adam responded. 

“I thought they didn’t do rituals.”

Blue took the bait this time, “it’s a tradition, not a ritual. They’re just asking for good things for the baby, not like, calling on gods or anything.”

“Google defines a ritual as a ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. Sounds a lot like what they’re doing,” Ronan said back, tips of his mouth angled upwards. He’d been holding on to that fun fact for a while now.

“Sounds like what you do at church. At least we’re not doing symbolic blood magic!” Blue retaliated loudly.

“Shush!” Adam said, almost as loud.

“Thought your parenting blog said noise was good for kids,” Ronan said to Adam, eyes moving to the mirror to look at his face.

Adam made eye contact briefly. “So is quiet.”

The second the car came into view at 300 Fox Way, five women (three that Ronan recognized), a handful of children (none of which Ronan recognized), Mr. Gray, Opal, Henry, and Gansey all flooded out into the front yard. Blue managed to get her door open, hitting Henry and some kid with it in the process. Maura made her way through to hug Blue, “two days without you was too long,” then yank Adam’s door open to hug him too. “Let me see?” He leaned back in the seat to give her a better view. “She’s lovely. Are you sure we can’t kidnap her?”

“Ask me again in a couple days,” he said back. 

She laughed, “she’ll wake up again soon. Better get her home.” She patted his shoulder before shutting his door again.

Ronan looked away, trying to hide the fact that he watched the exchange, then pulled back into the road to drive back home. “I don’t like how comfortable she was with her.”

“She literally just asked to see her. What’s the big deal?”

“She asked to kidnap her,” Ronan said it quietly, but his tone implied he wanted to be much louder. “Isn’t that half those fairy tales? Old witches trading spells for your first born?”

“She was  _ joking _ ! If she wanted to kidnap a kid there were a dozen in her front yard that would have been easier to grab.”

“And what was with her telling you what to do?”

“She’s had a baby before! I haven’t! And she’s a baby, of course she’s going to wake up soon, she won’t sleep forever.”

“She will if they cursed her or some shit. Like with Sleeping Beauty.”

“God, are you serious? They aren’t actually witches! They can’t actually curse anyone!” Adam looked down. “Let’s just go home.”

Ronan took it as an end to the conversation and didn’t say anything else. 

  
  


Once they reached The Barns, Ronan and Adam got out of the car. Ronan opened the door to get Prosper out, but before he could press the release buttons on the car seat, Adam was shooing Ronan away and doing it himself. Instead of leaving, Ronan waited to close the car door, but Adam hooked his foot under the edge and shut it himself. He made his way to the front door and opened it, and this time Adam had no choice but to allow the help from Ronan.

Adam put the car seat down on the coffee table to remove Prosper, who made soft sounds at the sudden movement. Ronan was surprised that the little noises were all, “I thought babies cried all the time.”

“Sometimes they don’t cry a lot for a few days. It’s fine.”

“I wasn’t complaining.”

Adam left, making his way upstairs with Prosper and the hospital bags. Ronan followed as Adam went straight to the room they’d talked about making the nursery. “The crib is in our room. I can move it if you want.” Adam shook his head before turning back to Ronan’s childhood bedroom to put Prosper down. “I thought you might want her closer to us when we’re asleep. We hadn’t talked about it.”

“It’s fine.” Adam plopped down on the bed without taking his shoes off, right on top of the blankets. 

“Do you want food?” Adam grumbled a reply back into the blanket. “I’ve gotta go check the chickens. I didn’t let them out this morning so they’re probably pissed. And I’ll make food.” Adam grumbled back, but Ronan still didn’t understand, so he just left.

The chickens, as Ronan expected, were indeed pissed. They were used to being let out at sunrise, but since he left before then he had to choose between angry chickens and the risk of predators. Their safety won out, but the chickens didn’t know that. Normally they were Opal’s responsibility, but the witches offered to take her for a while so that she wasn’t raising hell around Prosper. It was late enough in the day that most of the hens had already laid their eggs in the boxes on the back wall, so Ronan went about collecting them. On days that Opal collected, an average of two eggs actually made it inside intact, the rest either broken or eaten. Today there were 14, which meant at least a few of the younger hens were laying eggs now. Matthew would be happy to hear, since Ronan couldn’t threaten to eat the freeloaders anymore.

He put them into the dream egg thing he found in the kitchen. It let the eggs roll down to keep the oldest eggs at the front so they could be used first, but seemed to have a much higher capacity than something that size should and prevented any of the eggs from breaking even when Opal or Chainsaw shoved or tipped it over. A lot of his dad’s dream things in the kitchen had stopped working recently, including the garbage disposal that didn’t seem physically possible to fix, so it seemed like it was only a matter of time before this one broke, too.

He brushed off the urge to mess with the disposal again and turned to making lunch - dinner? What time was it? - instead. He went about getting the stuff ready for fried eggs and grilled cheese, a combination Adam found particularly good no matter how weird he claimed it was. There was no denying Ronan’s own self-declared culinary tastes. After putting a few eggs on to fry, he put his head down on the counter to think about everything. Adam shutting him down at the hospital. Adam practically kicking him out of his own car twice. Adam rejecting his help. Adam…. Ronan was more tired than he thought.

He lifted his head to flip the egg only to find that he hadn’t put any oil in and the bottom was not only burned, but also stuck to the pan. He started to scrape, pulling the pan off the burner. 

Then there was an alarm. It took him longer than it should have to place the alarm, but it couldn’t possibly be Ronan’s fault. He hadn’t know that there were even fire alarms in the house. He also had no idea where they were. A quick glance around the kitchen yielded no results. Prosper was crying, Adam was yelling, Ronan was swearing, it was a shitshow.

Adam came running down the stairs, baby in tow, to see what the hell was going on. “I’m sorry!” Adam looked at Ronan where he was apologizing profusely, to the pan that he had dropped on the ground, then without saying anything grabbed a blanket off the couch and went outside. Ronan watched him leave, then went back to his search for the source of the noise, still not yielding any results. As much as he hated doing it, if anyone knew where the dream alarms were, it’d be Declan. Finding his phone was difficult, albeit easier than finding the alarms. 

After a precursory check of his pockets, he remembered exactly where it was in the drink holder of the BMW. He went out the door that Adam had just left through, running to the car to retrieve his phone and found “Dicklan” in his contacts quickly.

Declan didn’t answer. Ronan called again. Declan answered on the third ring. “What?”

“The fire alarms, where are the fire alarms?”

“What?”

“The fire alarms! Where are they?”

“I heard what you said. What do you mean?”

“At The Barns. The fire alarms are going off and I don’t know how to make them shut up!”

“I didn’t even know they existed. What’s going on?”

“The fire alarms are going off!”

“I understand that, I mean what-”

Ronan hung up the phone. Adam looked at him from where he was standing in the yard, expression blank, trying to rock Prosper into calming down. He wasn’t in any shape to help, so he went in again. After another minute of searching, he finally snapped and yelled. “Shut up!” The fire alarms shut up. 

Ronan picked up the pan that he had dropped on the ground. It left a burn mark on the floor. He threw it in the sink without bothering to scrape the half raw-half burnt egg off of it. Adam came back in, Prosper still crying, and started getting a bottle ready. “I can help.”

“No. I got it.” His tone left for no argument, even if Ronan was in the mood to argue. 

His phone started buzzing, which probably meant Declan was calling again. Normally he would ignore it, but he had promised Adam a few weeks before that he would actually try to get along with  _ both  _ of his brothers. So instead he answered it. “What do you want?” He made his way out of the kitchen to get out of Adam’s way.

“What do I want? You called me, alarms blazing, yelling, with crying and screaming in the background and you want to know what  _ I  _ want?”

“I got it figured out.”

“I can tell that.” Declan had a tone, the kind that meant he was probably pinching the bridge of his nose. “What happened?”

“I burnt an egg. Fire alarm went off and wouldn’t stop. I got it under control.”

“And the crying?”

“The baby. She wasn’t very happy about it. Neither is Adam.”

Declan didn’t answer for a few seconds. “She’s still crying.”

“No shit, I couldn’t tell!”

“I meant  _ why  _ is she still crying?”

“Because she’s a baby and I suck as a human being.”

“You do not suck as a human being. You are a human being. You’re like...alive and shit.” Declan was stealing from Ronan’s vocabulary, but he couldn’t find it in him to be upset. 

“Well apparently Adam thinks I suck as a human being, and now so does Prosper even though she’s literally two days old and doesn’t even know anyone, and you think I’m a shitty person and Gansey thinks I make stupid decisions.”

“I can’t argue with some of that. You do make stupid decisions. That doesn’t make you a bad person.” When Ronan didn’t say anything, Declan kept speaking. “She’s done crying right?” Ronan still didn’t speak. “You know you didn’t cry much as a baby. I don’t remember, I was too young, but dad mentioned it once. He said that I was the only one who cried.”

“Sounds about right.”

Declan continued on like he hadn’t said anything, “He said that one time he was alone with me while I was crying and he felt like throwing me down the stairs to shut me up. I think that was the start of when he stopped liking me.” 

That was the game, then. A secret for a secret. Ronan gave one of his willingly, so Declan felt obligated to give him own back. “He liked you.”

“He tolerated me because I was useful.”

“Like you were ever useful.”

“Useful enough that dad got killed because of me,” Declan responded quietly, barely above a whisper before ending the call. 

Ronan pulled the phone from his ear, looking at the screen to make sure Declan actually hung up, then tossed his phone on the couch.

“Hey.” Ronan swivelled around at Adam’s voice behind him. “Do you want to see her?” Ronan nodded his head and Adam came closer. “Sit down.” Ronan sat on the couch and Adam settled in beside him, one leg folded under the other. Adam surprised Ronan by pulling one of his arms out from under Prosper to hold her with one arm against his chest. He used the free arm to guide one of Ronan’s to a different position before carefully transferring her to Ronan.

“She feels smaller when she’s like this.”

“Do you wanna feed her or do you want me to take her back?”

“No offense dude, but there’s no way you’re taking her back right now.”

Adam laughed softly, then grabbed the bottle of the coffee table, then went about instructing Ronan on what to do. He himself only learned for the first time in the hospital after she was born, so it was a process. Once they were both confident that Ronan had it figured out Adam moved around, but stayed beside him. When Ronan looked away from Prosper to look at Adam, he realized that Adam was taking a picture. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m sending a massive group text to show everyone you’ve ever met that Ronan Lynch’s bad boy attitude is a facade.” 

“Asshole.”


	8. Eight

There was a time that Adam referred to Ronan as a heart attack. Feelings were fast, seemed never ending, and left him with butterflies and a spinning head. Every touch felt like fire, catching fast, spreading faster, destroying everything it touched leaving behind only  _ Ronan.  _ Lately, things have changed. When Adam walks into a room to find him there, his heart doesn't speed up or try to jump out of his chest. Instead, Ronan’s presence becomes calming. When their eyes meet, it feels like  _ home _ . For Adam it is a new feeling, but it’s one that feels impossible not to identify. 

He remembers a day when he was around eight years old. He didn’t have school but Robert was working, so he didn’t have to spend the day trying to stop existing. Somehow the conversation started with his mother, somehow it got on the topic of love, and somehow it ended with her telling her child that it was his fault that his parents didn’t love each other anymore. She said love was a feeling that faded away with time, that Adam’s birth had crumpled any love Robert still had for her. She didn’t directly blame Adam, but the intent was obvious. 

She may never have beat him, but the scars she left behind were still damaging. 

In his freshman year at Mountain View, they had a counselor come in and talk to all of the students about abusive relationships. Most of what she said he had heard a hundred times, but one of the pieces of advice she offered was new to him. “Your partner should want the best for you and you should want the best for them. They’re your built in buddy. If you go on a field trip to the zoo, you make sure you listen to the instructions so that you and your buddy are safe. You make sure that they have a quarter for the food in the petting zoo. You point out animals that are hiding if they don’t see them. You work as a pair to stay safe, have fun, and get back to the group together. Be a good buddy. If your buddy doesn’t care about you or hurts you, you go to your teacher to find a new buddy. They may not like that you told someone, but in the end it’ll make sure that you are safe and get to have a good day at the zoo.” It seemed stupid at the time. The comparison seemed juvenile and their whole class made fun of it for the rest of the year. 

Adam can’t fathom not loving Ronan as strongly as he does now. The idea of no longer finding solace in him is as hard to imagine as giving up. Instead, he started viewing it as another challenge, not  _ Adam against Ronan _ , but Ronan and Adam against everything else. Now, with Ronan sitting on the couch, Prosper in his arms, it was impossible not to view the three of them as a unit. She wasn’t an adversary and Adam promised to never think of her as such. He would never allow himself to view her as something that came between him and anything. Even if Ronan left him, even if his school plans failed, even if every bad thing in the world happened, he would never blame her.

Adam will not inflict the pains he has felt.

After a bit of time, Prosper finished her bottle and drifted off. “Do you want to put her down?”

Ronan shook his head immediately, “I don’t know how.”

“Let me do it, then.” Adam leaned forward on the leg he was sitting on, reaching out for her.

“No,” Ronan said, causing Adam to pause, “that’s not what I meant.” Adam pulled back, waiting for him to elaborate, but he made no sign that he would, so Adam made a  _ go on _ gesture. “Physically, I know how. I just don’t know how to  _ not  _ just hold her.”

“I get it, but I need to sleep. So do you.” In truth, Adam didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how Ronan had bonded with her so quickly, when she didn’t even have a discernible personality. Adam loved her and would protect her, but he didn’t feel the same draw to her as everyone said he should. Maybe he was broken. 

“So go to sleep. I’ll stay with her,” Ronan said it as though it was the most obvious solution in the world.

Adam shook his head, “you’re so tired you started a house fire, you need to sleep.”

“There weren’t even any flames! It didn’t count as a fire!”

Adam scoffed, then stood up and started to grab Prosper. Ronan didn’t argue or try to stop him. “Come on, you can ogle at her more upstairs.”

“I do not  _ ogle. _ ” Ronan shot back, but stood up anyway to follow. Adam kicked his shoes off at the foot of the stairs before heading up. Once upstairs, Adam deposited Prosper in the crib, took his jeans off, and got in bed. 

Ronan did not. “You need sleep.” Ronan rolled his eyes before starting to work on untying the multitude of loops on his boots and threw them into a pile by the door, but made no motion to come lay down. “Lynch.”

“I’ll sleep in Matty’s room.”

“What? Why?”

Ronan paused, likely to decide if he would answer or not. “I don’t want to dream in the same room as her,” he said, evidently having decided he would answer.

Before Adam could respond, Ronan was out of sight. It made sense and Adam was ashamed of not thinking of that as a fear earlier, but Ronan hadn’t brought anything back on accident in a while, let alone anything dangerous. This was Ronan’s room, the one he grew up in, and he was being kicked out for two people that didn’t even have to be there. There was a solution there, one just out of reach of Adam’s sleep deprived mind, but he’d have to figure it out when he woke up. For now, sleep won out.

It seemed like Ronan had just closed his eyes when they opened again. He looked at the alarm clock by the bed and realized that it had been about two and half hours since Prosper fell asleep, so it made sense that she was awake and crying. He got to the door as Adam was standing up. “What can I do?”

Adam ran a hand through the back of his hair and rubbed one of his eyes. “I got it.” He picked her up and passed Ronan as he went through the door toward the nursery across from Matthew’s room. 

“She needs to eat, yeah?” Ronan said while following him. Adam nodded. “I can go make it.”

“I said I got it.”

Ronan scoffed. “Well she doesn’t seem to think that.”

Adam put her down on the changing table and reached for the basket on the first shelf. “You don’t even know how to.” 

Ronan looked down at Adam’s hands as they struggled to undo the snap at the top of her sleep bodysuit. “I can read a label, Parrish.” Adam managed to get the snap, then breathed out in a way that left Ronan thinking he was going to argue. “Then she won’t have to wait as long.” When Adam didn’t respond, Ronan took it as permission and headed downstairs. 

The instructions didn’t seem too difficult, so actually preparing the bottle wasn’t a big deal, but in the time it took Ronan to finish, Prosper’s crying hadn’t moved from the nursery. Maybe Adam was planning on feeding her in there? He made his way back upstairs and found Adam and Prosper exactly where he left them. There was a dirty diaper on the table next to them and she had a new one on, but otherwise wasn’t wearing anything. He got closer and saw that Adam was taking pictures of her. Or not of her, but of the rash covering her chest and stomach. “Was that there before?”

Adam jumped. Apparently he hadn’t realized that Ronan had come back. “No. I’m getting photos so I can ask her pediatrician.” He had recovered from the shock and grabbed another bodysuit to put on her.

Ronan didn’t have an answer that would be helpful and Adam was obviously not in the mood for unhelpful, so he said nothing. Instead he watched Adam zip it up then grab her and the bottle Ronan had set down and go downstairs. Ronan grabbed the folded travel bassinet then followed Adam down the stairs. Instead of going in the living room with Adam, he turned to go to the kitchen instead and started rummaging through the fridge as quietly as possible. Eventually he found a frozen pizza in the freezer. There was no way of knowing how long it had been there, but given that it was frozen he assumed that it was still safe to eat.  With the failure of most of the dreamed appliances recently, the only option for cooking the frozen pizza was the oven, which was not a dreamed appliance and therefore needed to pre-heat. While he waited he went back to find Adam. He set up the travel bassinet next to the couch, then settled down a cushion away from them and watched.  After a few minutes, Adam spoke up. “If you want to take her, just ask.” Ronan looked away from Prosper to look at Adam and found him watching Ronan as intently as Ronan had been watching her. 

“She’s yours,” Ronan said as a response. He did want to, of course, but he also wasn’t going to overstep the fine line that was drawn between them.  Adam didn’t say anything else, just scooted closer to Ronan and motioned for him to take her from Adam. Instead of staying close like before, Adam moved to the other end of the couch, putting as much space between them as possible. 

The silence that they fell back into was interrupted shortly after by the crunch of car tires on gravel outside . Adam looked to Ronan, “who is that?”

There were very few people that it could be. The protections he had been putting up meant that only people who knew him well would be able to get through. Adam was here, Gansey and Blue promised not to come by, and his brothers were in DC. “I don’t know.” There was the sound of a car door closing, then a second one. “Maggot and Dick?”

Adam got up and made it to the door and had it open before their visitors made it to the door. Ronan couldn’t see who it was from the angle, but he could see Adam. “Oh, hi! I didn’t know you were coming.”

The way he said it made it clear that it wasn’t Gansey and Blue, which left only one option. As soon as he made this conclusion it was confirmed by Declan’s voice from outside. “It’s my home too, we don’t need your permission.”

Adam’s eyebrow shot up and Ronan considered how funny it would be if Adam just shut the door in his face and locked it, but he didn’t. Instead he moved to the side to let Declan and Matthew in. Ronan responded for Adam, since Adam didn’t seem like he was planning on doing it himself. “He lives here, you don’t.” Declan opened his mouth to say something back, but Ronan beat him to it, “if you’re gonna be an asshole, do it quietly.”

Declan looked back at Ronan. His expression made it obvious that he hadn’t really processed the fact that Ronan was holding a  _ baby _ and was being  _ gentle _ . Matthew put a brown bag on the coffee table, then sat down and started to pull foil wrapped food out of the bag. “We stopped and got food. Neither of us knew who you liked, Adam, so we just got you a burger! Is that okay?”

Ronan fully expected for this to turn into a fight, Adam demanding that he pay for it, Declan insisting that it wasn’t a big deal, Adam getting angry and storming off, Declan taking it out on Ronan, the whole shebang. That didn’t happen. Adam just said, “yeah, thanks,” and that was it.

The oven beeped from the kitchen to let him know that it was pre-heated. “Go turn that off,” Ronan said to whoever listened. That person happened to be Adam, who stood up immediately to go shut it off, leaving the three Lynch brothers alone.

Declan didn’t say anything and refused to make eye contact. Matthew did no such thing. “Can I see them?” Matthew’s smile took up his whole face, cheeks pulled up to hide most of his eyes, wrinkles forming on his forehead. He didn’t wait for Ronan’s answer to get closer, but did stop himself before getting super close. “What’s their name?”

Ronan caught a small smile on his own face and didn’t force it away. “Prosperpina. Prosper for short.”

“That’s a weird name,” Matthew said immediately. 

“Matthew.” Declan said from the entryway. He still hadn’t moved.

“She’s named after my old mentor,” Adam’s voice called from the kitchen. “Ronan, you know this pizza expired like a year ago?”

“Why would you even check? Just throw it away if you want.”

Adam didn’t have a comeback, but Ronan could hear him open the freezer to shove it back in, so it didn’t really matter. When Adam made it back to the room Declan moved to sit near Matthew. “Mentor?”

Adam looked at Ronan. It was impossible to tell what the look meant. “Uh, yeah. She taught me a lot before she died and I wanted to honor that.”

“What did she teach you about?” Matthew asked between bites of his food.

Declan cut in with another “Matthew.”

Ronan responded before Adam could, “witch shit.”

Adam flicked Ronan’s ear and rolled his eyes so hard Ronan worse he had to have  _ heard _ it. “She was one of the psychics at Fox Way. She helped me figure out how to communicate with Cabeswater and some other things”

Matthew said something, but it was garbled by the food in his mouth. Declan and Ronan both said his name in unison this time. Matthew swallowed, then repeated the question. “So you’re psychic?”

Adam looked at Ronan, then Declan, then Matthew. “Yes.”

Matthew nodded his head, “cool, cool.” Ronan set Prosper down in the bassinet, then everyone else joined in to eat.


End file.
